


Eightfold

by White Aster (white_aster)



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Genre: M/M, Xeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-10
Updated: 2007-05-10
Packaged: 2017-10-03 14:27:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/white_aster/pseuds/White%20Aster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It grinned, its eyes full of lightning.  "I'm Raja Naga, boy.  I'm Takshaka, servant of the Four Heavenly Kings, and I don't obey puny summoners."  It shifted closer, and its slither was so unlike walking that Raidou found himself unsure of exactly how to predict its movements.  It curled itself down a bit but still loomed over him, no doubt on purpose.  "What makes you think you've got what it takes to command me, eh?"</p><p>(vague SPOILERS for the last few chapters of the game)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eightfold

"--strong and most likely with a slight affinity for water and lightning magic, given your components. Quite a lovely specimen. Likely stronger than any you have now."

Viktor's compendium was a slab of heavy leather and parchment across Raidou's knees, smelling strangely of ozone and undefinable chemicals. Raidou traced his fingers along the picture of a demon with the head and torso of a man and the long, sinuous tail of a snake. Cramped but precise handwriting gave dimensions, and Raidou quirked an eyebrow and looked up at Viktor dubiously, tapping a gloved finger next to the notations.

Viktor smiled, rubbing his hands together. The gloves made a slightly disturbing squeaking noise. "Yes, indeed. They're very impressive. I saw one in the wild, so to speak, in India. A learned gentleman there showed me the knack of fusing them. I've been quite keen to try it out." His hands all but twitched with eagerness, his eyes on Raidou's containment tubes.

Raidou nodded, closing the compendium and pulling two tubes from their holsters. He dropped them into Viktor's eager hands, tapping one of the tubes pointedly. Viktor bowed slightly, "Yes, preserve the healing magic, of course. It would be a shame to waste it, hmm?"

\-----------------------------

The machine shuddered and roared, but when the lightning cleared, Raidou saw that Viktor's notes hadn't been exaggerating. The demon was twelve feet if it was an inch. Perhaps more. Most if it was tail, of course, and as such curled beneath the demon's torso, but as the demon blinked and..._slithered_ out of the machine and off the dias, Raidou could see that it easily towered over him in a way no human ever had. Raidou felt practically small beside it.

The demon shot Viktor a look of distaste, then ignored him, focussing on Raidou. Raidou stood his ground as the demon moved closer, the sandpaper sound of scales dragging along the floor louder than the machinery as the demon circled him, eyes calculating, arms crossed.

Ah, Raidou thought, turning his head so he could keep eye contact. So it's to be one of _those_.

"So you're the summoner, hmm?" the demon said. "Little puny, aren't ya?"

Raidou turned his body rather than lose sight of the naga, even for a moment, as the demon started to move behind him.

This seemed to amuse it. It grinned, its eyes full of lightning. "I'm Raja Naga, boy. I'm Takshaka, servant of the Four Heavenly Kings, and I don't obey puny summoners." It shifted closer, and its slither was so unlike walking that Raidou found himself unsure of exactly how to predict its movements. It curled itself down a bit but still loomed over him, no doubt on purpose. "What makes you think you've got what it takes to command me, eh?"

Raidou tilted his head back just far enough to keep eye contact. Then he gave the naga a bold once-over and jerked his chin up, letting his eyes go cool and calm.

Never show fear. Ever. It was the first rule of summoning.

They stayed that way for a long moment, eyes locked, until the naga barked a laugh, coiling himself tighter. "Hah! Well, we'll see, now won't we?"

\-----------------------------

One night, as they finished wiping out a particularly nasty nest of oni in Fukugawa-cho and headed home, Raja Naga flicked blood off its spear and said, "You're not that bad, summoner. Ya know. For a human."

Raidou just quirked his mouth as he wiped off his katana and sheathed it.

"Still took one, though." Raja Naga slid closer, reaching down to lay a hand over the gash on Raidou's upper arm. Raidou winced, the wound starting to hurt as the adrenaline wore off. Raja Naga closed its eyes, swaying a bit as it chanted, singsong, in a language that Raidou didn't know but which his body understood, flesh knitting under the naga's touch. Raidou sighed, the pain easing, and when he smiled up his thanks, Raja Naga was still close.

Very close, Raidou couldn't help but notice.

Raja Naga smiled down at him slowly, his coils shifting, and Raidou was very aware of ( -its - _his_ dammit, that close to three times Raidou's body weight in muscle, a tight abdomen and wide chest above a predatory smile...species dynamics be damned, the naga was a _he_) his bulk, his nearness. Especially when Raja Naga said, "Better?" and Raidou could hear the word rumble in his chest.

Raidou nodded. He stepped back and did not think too hard on why.

\-----------------------------

Raidou laid a restraining hand on Raja Naga's elbow.

Raja Naga paused, arm drawn back, coils shifting menacingly. "But boss...."

Raidou's eyes narrowed, his hand tightening.

The naga dropped his half-dead opponent in a heap of gibbering and mostly-broken bones. He grumbled as they moved away, his tail lashing once more at the beaten demon, eyes flickering dangerously. "Did you hear what he said?" He slithered in a tight ring around Raidou before settling a step behind him, arms crossed over his chest. "Nobody talks like that about my summoner."

Raidou smiled, tucking his pistol back into its holster, eyebrow quirked. _His_ summoner, hmm?

"Yeah, that's right." Raja Naga drew himself up proudly to his full height, dwarfing Raidou. "You're mine, and I'm not gonna let some punk bag of bones badmouth you."

Raidou wasn't sure whether he should be flattered, amused, or annoyed at being praised and claimed like a pet. He settled for something in between.

\-----------------------------

None of the demons _liked_ Viktor's laboratory. No matter how many times he patched them and Raidou up, they never forgot that eventually they all went into the machine and came out as someone new. It was, in their eyes, only slightly preferable to dying altogether.

Nonetheless, they would go if Raidou asked them. Once he'd won their loyalty, once they would die for him, they would go. It always amazed him just a bit.

Raja Naga shrugged. "You're our summoner. We may throw in with you because you have the crazy scientist make us or because you bully us, but that's just how things go. We stick around because we want to. We don't want to be strays again."

Raidou looked away. This, he thought, was why the family had rules about talking too much with summoned demons. It made sacrifices that much harder.

\-----------------------------

_Raidou's eyes were filled with lurid black-on-brown-on-red-on-black darkness, visions of twins of himself stretching off into infinity, turning to look at him, not seeing the darkness behind them, picking them off one by one, all of them dying in ways each more horrible than the last, and death moving down the line, a black cloud with a metallic sheen coming for him, reaching out dark, bloody claws, and Raidou's ears are filled with the cries of dying summoners and it's all the same voice, all HIS voice and--_

Raidou woke with a muffled cry, eyes blinking in the dark, and he fumbled for the katana lying beside the futon before the thing in the corner moved forward into the moonlight. The light shone off silver scales and pale skin, and Raja Naga tilted his head curiously. "Boss?"

Raidou took a careful breath and forced his hand to release the hilt. He ran a palm over his eyes and slumped back against the mattress.

The shsssh of scales over the wooden floor was familiar. "It's been quiet tonight. Somethin' wrong?"

Raidou shook his head against the pillow.

"Bad dream, huh? Don't blame you, after all that the other day. Woulda spooked anyone." Raja Naga settled at the top of futon, behind Raidou's head, his tail sprawled along one edge of the mattress. "S'all right, boss. Everything's under control. Ain't nothin' gonna get past me."

That wasn't the point, because of _course_ Raidou wasn't worried about anything physical, but still, it made him feel better. Safe. Raidou turned over, straightening the bedclothes and settling back down to sleep. And if the back of his hand ended up pressed against the very tip of a cool-scaled tail, and if the end of that tail maybe wound its way around his wrist, well...neither of them mentioned it.

\-----------------------------

Raidou started, flailing a bit for a handhold as strong arms and tail lifted him bodily off the ground, cradling Raidou in a curve of scaled muscle. The fighter in him noticed that it was a position where he had very little leverage. The rest of him, though, just moaned as Raja Naga's cool prick--_one_ of them, at least--shifted heavily inside him, pressing in new and interesting ways. Raja Naga's other cock slid against Raidou's own, almost cold against his heated skin, and that was more arousing than it probably should have been.

Raidou gasped and almost trembled, hands clutching at Raja Naga's biceps, and the demon chuckled, moving them both in a ripple that made Raidou cry out.

Raja Naga hissed in pleasure, his tongue flickering out along Raidou's neck. His thrusts were slow, wave-like. It was like being fucked by the implacable sweep of the tide. "Yessss. Nicsse...ssso tight...doess that feel good?"

It was a stupid question, really. Raidou spared the attention to crack an eye open and give him a look that said so.

Raja Naga just laughed. He nuzzled under Raidou's ear, sharp teeth pricking along Raidou's skin but never biting. "Ssso warm...." His arms circled Raidou's torso, cool hands stroking along Raidou's back, his body cupping Raidou's to take the shift in their center of gravity effortlessly. Something cool and scaled that was probably the tip of the naga's tail slid up to wrap _oh gods_ wrap around both of their cocks, tightening and sliding as Raja Naga surged into Raidou, stretching him wide and holding him steady.

"Come on, bossss, let me hear you ssscream...."

\-----------------------------

Raidou got to his feet and, with more formality than he'd used in a long time, bowed to Gouto.

The cat snorted, tail twitching, but didn't look displeased as he headed over to stand by the engineer.

Raidou took a deep breath, reaching for the tube without even looking. It was cool to the touch, a familiar frosted buzz against his skin, and Raja Naga appeared, turning in a tight circle to take in his surroundings before settling to look at Raidou expectantly.

Raidou just looked back at him for a moment, not sure how to even begin.

Raja Naga shrugged. "Don't have to explain, boss, I heard it all." He hefted his spear against his shoulder, grinning cockily. "I'm totally your man for the job. I may not be the hardest hitter you've got anymore, but we run into trouble up there, none of _them'd_ be able to heal themselves."

Raidou nodded. He knew that. He did.

The demon moved close, curling his tail around Raidou's legs. "Don't look like that, boss. You've got shit to do here. Ass to kick. Names to take." His hand trailed across Raidou's shoulders as he slid around to curl in front of Raidou again. "We'll both do our parts, eh?"

Raidou drew in a deep breath and nodded, decisively, drawing Raidou Kuzunoha around him like armor. Raja Naga brightened, grinning again. "That's my summoner." He pulled away and bowed, then saluted smartly with his spear before slithering past Raidou with a purpose.

His scales trailed cool under Raidou's dangling fingers, the tip of his tail curling almost imperceptibly around Raidou's wrist as he moved past.


End file.
